AS SHE SLEEPS
Ranges of foothills fall sharply from clouds
stacked against Sierra snow, pastel ridges
washed pink and lavender under light gray rain –
I want to stop and paint them from the railroad
overpass, on the highway from Visalia – park
and stop time, freeze it all while I brush
powder to paper. Commuting for weeks,
I can read the leanings of the urgent
escaping work, racing towards something
somewhere I can’t imagine as important
as these mountains – a different meaning
in the light of every day. Wrinkled one
behind the other, I identify each dark line
as it jags into the Kaweah like the folds
of bedclothes as she sleeps, going home.
December 27, 1924 - February 6, 2010
Margaret C. Dofflemyer was born in Visalia to Dorothy (Hannah) and John F. Cutler on December 27, 1924. Great-granddaughter of John Cutler, first elected judge in Tulare County in 1853, she attended Redwood High School, Stephens College and graduated from the University of California at Berkeley in 1945.
In 1946, she married Robert T. Dofflemyer of Exeter on February 14th. Margaret was an active member of the Las Madrinas Guild and its support of the Valley Children’s Hospital and a member of the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. She was also among the founding families of the Venice Hill Preparatory School in the early 1960s. She was preceded in death by her husband Robert in 1997, and her sister Catherine C. Kramer in 2003.
She is survived by her daughter, Virginia S. Dofflemyer of Alameda; and sons, John C. Dofflemyer of Lemon Cove and W. Todd Dofflemyer II of Exeter; four grandchildren, Jessica Dofflemyer of Kilauea, HI, Amanda Bauscher of Capitola, Robert T. Dofflemyer II of Woodlake and Katy Dofflemyer of Los Angeles and two great-granchildren, Bodhi Rouse and Cutler Bauscher.
She will be interred at the Exeter District Cemetery. At Margaret’s request, no services are pending.
Comments
So sorry to hear about this John. Her words paint such a beautiful picture. One that I can only aspire to re-create someday...
Posted by: matthew | February 7, 2010 5:46 PM
Matt, it was your kind of day, dark lines of ridges between light pastels, a bit surrealistic, much like your prints but with the tops cut off by low clouds down to about Morro Rock. It's branded in my mind - and a relief to know that's she's shed all the maladies of her flesh.
Posted by: John Dofflemyer | February 7, 2010 6:09 PM
Being a inexperienced blogger myself, certainly nice to see a first rate blogger for a change. I desire to master so much from analyzing other individuals web logs and I feel that your own has lots to offer the readers, thanks for taking a few minutes and making the effort. Diane
Posted by: Sal Garmon | August 3, 2010 4:53 PM